Boys Basketball: Leopards take care of Knights

January 07, 2013|By JACK HILL III | Staff Correspondent

SMITHSBURG — The Smithsburg Leopards dominated the Middletown Knights right from the get-go on Monday night in a 59-39 boys basketball victory.

“We just wanted to be consistent,” Smithsburg coach Mike Williams said. “Offensively, we played a good ballgame. We had four kids in double figures and that is the first time that we have done that all year. I thought that we rebounded well. For the most part, we took care of the basketball. We had 12 turnovers, which is not as many as what we have been making.”

Senior point guard Kevin Gibson had game-high totals of 17 points and six assists for Smithsburg (4-7).

“All we did was come out and execute a faster tempo,” Gibson said. “We played with less concern of turning over the ball and more as a team. They realized that we had shooters on the wings. So, they played less helpside defense. That enabled me to drive the lane and dish off to my fellow teammates. This was the first game that we had everybody on the team back from injuries.”

Junior guard Matt Sprecher had 14 points and six rebounds, while forward Cobi King and reserve center Cedric Barnes scored 11 points each for the Leopards. King also added six rebounds and three assists, while forward Matt Stevens had five rebounds and three steals for Smithsburg.

“Kevin Gibson did a good job of running the offense,” Williams added. “He did his job correctly as he kept us under control. Cedric Barnes helped us out by coming off of the bench to score 11 points. I think, potentially, we’ll get better as the season goes along. We haven’t played our best basketball yet.”

Brad Rinehart had 12 points and six rebounds, while Ben Panther also added 12 points for Middletown (0-9).

“Smithsburg played better than we did,” Middletown coach Aaron White said. “They moved the ball. They were able to utilize their zone to best help them. They just played harder than we did. You have got to give them credit. They deserve all of the credit.”

The Leopards raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2 1/2 minutes.

Sprecher scored eight straight points for Smithsburg to stretch the lead to 19-6 with 5:45 remaining in the second quarter. During that stretch, Sprecher had a pair of 3-pointers and a bucket.

Gibson scored nine points in the third quarter as the Leopards were on top 41-26 at the end of the period.

Smithsburg scored the last 11 points of the ballgame to take its biggest lead at the final margin of 59-39.